A page on Ela Gandhi has been created on the Ulwazi Community Memory. This includes a biography, an interview from the Memories of Inanda web documentary and a gallery of images.
Ela Gandhi was born in Durban as the youngest daughter of Manilal and Sushila Gandhi.
Her father, who was Gandhi’s second son, returned from India to South Africa in 1917 to assist in the running of Phoenix Settlement and of the newspaper, The Indian Opinion. By 1920 he had become the editor of the paper and would eventually become its longest serving editor. He married Sushila in 1927 and a year later their first daughter Sita was born, twelve years later in 1940 Ela was born. As the Gandhi children grew up on the settlement they became strongly influenced by the father Manilal, who had become an important focus of resistance in the local community.
Mwelela Cele interviews Ela Gandhi as part of the Memories of Inanda documentary, produced for the eThekwini Municipality’s Ulwazi Programme. Ela discusses her grandfather Mahatma Gandhi, the Phoenix Settlement and her work as an activist and politician.
Ela Gandhi (born July 1, 1940), granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi is a peace activist and was a Member of Parliament in South Africa from 1994-2004, where she aligned with the African National Congress (ANC) party representing the Phoenix area of Inanda in the KwaZulu Natal province. Her parliamentary committee assignments included the Welfare, and Public Enterprises committees as well as the ad-hoc committee on Surrogate Motherhood. She was an alternate member of the Justice Committee and served on Theme Committee 5 on Judiciary and Legal Systems.
Shot at the the Durban University of Technology in April 2010
